Tim Burton Slammed for Comments About Diversity in Movies

The director, known for his offbeat, gothic aesthetic, was slammed on social media Thursday, September 29, after he explained why his latest flick, Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, featured a predominantly white cast.

"Nowadays, people are talking about it more," Burton, 58, told Bustle of diversity in films. "Things either call for things, or they don’t. I remember back when I was a child watching The Brady Bunch and they started to get all politically correct. Like, OK, let’s have an Asian child and a black. I used to get more offended by that than just … I grew up watching blaxploitation movies, right? And I said, that’s great. I didn’t go like, OK, there should be more white people in these movies."

Tim Burton attends the "Miss Peregrine's Home For Peculiar Children" New York premiere at Saks Fifth Avenue on September 26, 2016 in New York City.Jim Spellman/WireImage

Samuel L. Jackson — the only nonwhite actor in Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, which also stars Allison Janney and Judi Dench — came to Burton’s defense.

"I had to go back in my head and go, how many black characters have been in Tim Burton movies?" Jackson said. "And I may have been the first, I don’t know, or the most prominent in that particular way, but it happens the way it happens. I don’t think it’s any fault of his or his method of storytelling, it’s just how it’s played out. Tim’s a really great guy."

Still, it was too little, too late. Twitter users attacked Burton — known for beloved films including Beetlejuice, Edward Scissorhands and Alice Through The Looking Glass — and his views on diversity.